tax reform

Last week, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service released a notice of intent to issue proposed regulations on the domestic content bonus credit for certain clean energy projects. In this Legal Update, we’ll examine the proposed regulations, what taxpayers will need to do to reap the benefits, and the recordkeeping requirements…

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On April 4, 2023, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a notice of intent to issue proposed regulations on qualifying for the energy community bonus credit under Sections 45, 45Y, 48 and 48E (Notice). Pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed last August, eligible taxpayers can receive a bonus of up to 10% in excess of the investment tax credit under Sections 48 and 48E and an increase of 10% for the production tax credit under Sections 45 and 45Y for clean energy projects and facilities that are located in certain energy communities.
Continue Reading US Treasury to Propose Regulations on Energy Community Bonus Adders

Electric vehicle and electric battery manufacturers and critical mineral producers will want to take note of a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on Section 30D of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, released by the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service on March 31, 2023. The NPRM provides further guidance…

Below are soundbites from panel discussions at Solar Power International in Las Vegas on September 11 and 12. The soundbites are organized by topic, rather than in chronological order, and were prepared without the benefit of a transcript or recording.

The topics covered are: Tax Reform  • Tax Equity Volume and Investor Mix • Tax Equity Structuring • Deficit Restoration Obligation Structuring and Senior Secured Debt in Partnership Flips • FMV Valuation Issues and Insurance  • Community Solar • Community Choice Aggregators  • Power Purchase Agreements • Residential and Community Solar Markets • State Policy • Department of Defense Procurement

Tax Reform

ITC has already gone through tax reform and already has a transition rule in place. These arguments resonate pretty well with Republicans. — SEIA, Gov’t Relations

Anyone who tells you where we are now in this tax reform debate, is lying to you. — Boutique Investment Manager

Low likelihood of comprehensive tax reform in 2017. Chances for a tax cut are pretty good. Indemnification for a tax rate cut is built into these transactions. — Boutique Investment Manager

We are using a 25% corporate tax rate in most deals. The specifics depend on allocation of risk [of change in tax law] and [the financial strength of] the counterparty. We are more likely to put in less capital now and contribute more later if there is not a tax rate cut. — Commercial Bank, Head of Business Development Energy Investing

Not one size fits all. We use a 35% tax rate for 2017 and a lower rate for 2018 and beyond. In our deals, for federal tax rates we use between 25 and 30% [for 2018 and later]. If rate reduction doesn’t occur, we then fund more. It frightened me when Paul Ryan said he was aiming for a 22.5% tax rate. [This was before the Republican Big 6 released their proposal with a 20% corporate tax rate.] — Money Center Bank, Managing Director

We have very flexible solutions in place now to address tax rate reduction risk in deals. It is not the headache it was six months ago. — Boutique Accounting Firm, Director

Since corporations generally pay less than 35% in federal taxes now, and $1 of tax credit is $1 of tax credit, it remains to be seen what a lower rate really means [for the solar tax equity market]. — Boutique Investment Manager

The potential change in tax rate means the potential for a cash sweep, which means sponsors can raise less back leverage. — Commercial Bank, Head of Business Development Energy Investing.
Continue Reading Solar Power International 2017 Soundbites

The American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) annual conference, WindPower, was held in Anaheim, California. Below are soundbites from panel discussions on May 24, 2017. The soundbites were prepared without the benefit of a transcript or recording and were edited for clarity. Further, they are organized by topic, rather than appearing in the order in which they were said.

Each year WindPower seems to devote less space on its schedule to topics related to tax equity. This year there was only one panel that purported to address tax equity; it was a panel about tax reform.  It also appeared that there were fewer conference attendees who work in the tax equity space.

Tax Reform

“There’s lots of tax equity in the market today. Deals are getting done regardless of uncertainty [with respect to tax reform].” Managing Director of a Money Center Bank

“There’s so much tax equity capacity right now that should there be tax reform [with a reduction in the corporate tax rate] there should [still] be enough tax equity out there.” Managing Director of a Money Center Bank

“A lot of people are handicapping [tax reform] as rate reduction that is less severe than what’s in [any of the Republican] proposals.” Managing Director of a Money Center Bank

“Tax reform will have a negative net present value impact on projects’ economics. To maintain the same return level, sponsors will need to drive down costs or increase revenue. Revenues have been going down, but costs have been going down faster. If we can keep that up, [the wind industry] may be able to absorb the cost of a change in the corporate tax rate. Managing Director of a Money Center Bank

“The cost of tax law change will not be as high as some people have projected.” Managing Director of a Money Center Bank

“Our intelligence shows support [on Capitol Hill] for maintaining the PTC phase-out as it is today, but we don’t take that for granted.” SVP Federal Legislative Affairs of AWEA

“The general consensus among tax equity investors and sponsors is [any tax reform would include] minimal change to depreciation benefits and no change to the PTC phase-out.” Managing Director of a Money Center Bank

“For now, people are making [tax reform assumptions in financial models] and getting deals done, but that could change with more tax reform proposals. What the market wants is certainty.” Managing Director of a Money Center Bank
Continue Reading WindPower 2017 Soundbites

On June 28, Mayer Brown and Alfa Energy Advisors presented the webinar Tax Structuring and Impact of Potential Tax Reform.  An audio recording of the presentation with video of the slides is available here (the button is near the bottom of the page).  A pdf file with just the slides is available here.

Below are the questions submitted by the webinar audience with answers:

1. Question: For solar projects that use a third-party investor to monetizes the tax benefits, what is the split between the use of a sale-leaseback, partnership flip or an inverted lease structure in the market today?

Answer: There is no published data on this question. An educated guess in the current market is that partnership flips are more than half the market, inverted leases are less than ten percent of the market with the remaining portion made up of sale-leasebacks.

2. Question: In today’s solar tax equity market, are time- or yield-based flips more prevalent?

Answer: Yield-based flips are more prevalent. However, one very large tax equity investor prefers time-based flips. A generalization is that solar tax equity investors that started in wind projects prefer yield-based flips as that is what is sanctioned in the safe harbor for wind projects in Revenue Procedure 2007-65, while investors that started in tax equity by investing in historic tax credits prefer time-based flips.
Continue Reading Presentation from Tax Equity Structuring & Impact of Potential Tax Reform and Q&As from the Webinar

Please join Mayer Brown and Alfa Energy Advisors for another session of our popular webinar addressing how tax reform could affect various tax equity structures, how the market is allocating tax reform risk between sponsors and tax equity investors.

Key Event Information
Date & Time
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. EDT
Register here for this complimentary webinar.

Topics to be covered in the seminar will include:

• Trends in the tax equity market

• Impact of potential tax reform on flip partnership structuring

o Wind PTC projects
o Solar ITC projects
o Earnings per share impact analysis
o Key takeaways

• Comparison of time- and yield-based partnership flip structures

• The IRS’s updated “start of construction” guidance for tax credit qualificationContinue Reading Tax Equity Structuring & Impact of Potential Tax Reform Webinar June 28

Below are soundbites from panelists at the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) Finance & Tax Seminar in New York City.  The seminar was held on June 1 and 2, but only comments from the second day are reflected below.  The soundbites were prepared without the benefit of a transcript or recording and were edited for clarity.  Further, they are organized by topic, rather than appearing in the order in which they were said.

Tax Equity Market in 2017

  • It has been a slow start to the year. We will see a down year [compared to the $11 billion of tax equity funded in 2016]. – Executive Director, Energy Investing, Money Center Bank
  • There is relatively smaller tax equity flow in 2017, but there is continued demand for good projects with experienced sponsors. – Director, Investment Fund Manager
  • We saw a lag coming into this year. We haven’t seen a large uptick in investment. – Director, Structured Finance, Solar Services Company

Partnership Flip v. Sale-Leaseback Structures

  • A partnership flip provides an attractive balance for a cash equity investor to invest at scale and earn an attractive yield. The structure is attractive to cash equity investors because it raises less cash than a sale-leaseback.  [A cash equity investor is, generally, an investor other than the developer of the project.  Such investors are eager to invest, but typically do not have tax appetite.  Therefore, the partnership flip suits them well as it allows the tax equity investor to monetize 99% of the ITC, and much of the depreciation, while still requiring a significant cash equity investment.] – Director, Investment Fund Manager

Tax Equity Investors’ Reaction to the Possibility of Tax Reform

  • We are putting into our documents cash sweeps for the risk of tax reform resulting in a lowering of the tax rate. – Business Development Officer, Retail Bank
  • We want to be sure that if a tax law change occurs, we are protected with a step-up in our cash-sharing percentage or an indemnity. – Executive Director, Energy Investing, Money Center Bank
  • There is the potential for a tax equity investor’s economics to improve with a reduction in tax rates, if the reduction occurs after the losses are used. – Director, Project Finance, Solar Services Company

Continue Reading SEIA’s Finance & Tax Seminar Soundbites

On May 2, Mayer Brown and Alfa Energy Advisors presented the seminar/webinar Tax Structuring and Impact of Potential Tax Reform.  A copy of the presentation is available here.  The webinar was sponsored by Bloomberg BNA.

The webinar participants (but not the seminar participants) had the opportunity to answer polling questions.  The sample size, which…